Friday, September 17, 2010

Friday Happenings

Let's give this another try. Sometimes I cannot believe how stupid I can be.

Life is grand!!! It has been a busy and fun week with lots going on around here. It started off with a high school friend and her husband visiting from Oregon. It was so much fun. Sandy happens to be an extremely talented fiber artist so it was a thrill to see what she is currently working on. As well, another high school friend who lives in our general area joined us for a day and brought some of her beautiful hand dyed fabrics. There is so much inspiration to gain from get togethers like that. I did not want the time to end. Did I take any pictures???? Of course not!!! What was I thinking?

The sewing studio has been beckoning me this week. Perhaps it was the extra motivation (as if I needed any) of creative friends that got me going. Wanda always has such wonderful projects in the works. She uses so many of her fabrics and I always love what she creates. She is currently working on triangle quilt blocks with a lot of batik fabrics. I decided to give a few of my batiks a try. Although I am not sure about this block, I do think that I will make a few more to be sure. I may have to resort to Wanda's blocks for them even though I know that mine will never be as stunning as hers. I think I need to shop in her stash. Somehow I just love scrappy quilts.

I managed to get more blocks finished in a project that has been in the works for awhile now. Again, it is scrappy, but I am loving the way it is coming out.

My September barn block is done. This was a great quilt block for the barn and I am looking forward to the final installment next month. It will be fun to see these all together in a quilt.

I would really like to start a new project that Barb has just finished up. It is called Orange Slice. Quilt Taffy had a package of the great orange fabrics for sale a while back, but they were sold out before I could get them. I have since been saving all of my orange fabrics. It should go up quickly.

Another project that I am excited to get to is some flowers with some wonderful threads that I won from Tonya a few weeks ago. I'll share them with you when I get them done.

Also completed was some sewing for my niece's upcoming wedding. She had requested of me to design jackets for the junior bridesmaids. The picture is awful because the fabric had a sheen to it. It was so slinky and there was a ton of hand basting and undersewing. They need to be professionally pressed, but I am glad to be finished with them.

Sewing for the wedding reminded me of the bridesmaid "bouquets" that I made for our daughter's wedding three years ago. I did purses for them to carry. This shows them done with silk flowers, but for the wedding the florist put in hot pink Gerbera daisies. They really looked great and gave all of the girls a place to carry their personal items.

This week has also seen several days of canning tomatoes. They are FINALLY ripe!!! What a summer it has been. By the time you spend two full days of peeling, seeding and chopping tomatoes you really don't care if you ever see another tomato.

But....... we have frozen cups of fresh tomatoes that are now vacuum sealed and ready to use in sauces or in our favorite meal - seared ahi with a ponzu sauce. YUM!

As well we have canned tomatoes and chili sauce. Why is it that after a full day of preparation you only have nine jars of chili sauce. The house surely smelled great afterwards. DH asked me if I was ready for the next batch of ripe ones to be brought inside. WHAT???

The weekend plans are for a bridal shower and then home to start canning the peaches and pears. Anyone want to volunteer to help????

33 comments:

Oh my gosh, you have been SO busy! Just last night I saw a photo of a similiar quilt as you showed in your first photo...it was black/white prints with hot pink for the squares - great pattern!) And I love the other quilts too. DH pulled our tomato plants a week or so ago, glad to be done!

haha...Oh dear your gonna be canning tomatoes forever, '...ready for the next batch'...hehe. I was amazed to see the two big boxes in the photo. I hope you get another photo opportunity the next time you meet your school mates.Your quilts as always look fantastic! I'm not even gonna mention how incredible you are for doing all that you do (but I guess I just did:) The floral purses are such a great idea for bridesmaids - so pretty and so functional - and beautifully put together!Obviously your very skilled and clever to design and make clothes for a wedding and the jacket looks great - I'm pretty sure I would have a complete melt down, actually I just couldn't do it.I hope you're having a great day. Are you done with the tomatoes yet?I'm gonna update the flat princess's blog at some point today, I just haven't had a moment to scratch:)

I cant believe hw busy you have been. So nice to catch up with old friends and so much beautiful sewing. What a great idea with the choped tomatoes to freeze them in muffin pans. I totally agree about the amount of jars filled after all the preparation...I always think that after making chutney. I do enjoy looking through your blog, so much interesting stuff!

You are certainly a busy girl !That's a lot of canning, I use to do that too then somehow it got away from me.Love the quilts tooThank you for being there for me,its heart warming that people care.Diane

What a fun time you had with dear old pals! Love your quilts and the blocks... pretty jackets too! You have been very busy! Oh my goodness yes I know the feeling from all the canning and freezing. We did not have the produce this year to do that. I did get a call my butter bean order is ready so will do them in freezer.Have fun with the pears and peaches too...;-)

You have been very busy. so nice to spend time with old friends.Love your scrappy quilts. Yes it would be great to shop at Wanda's.The bridesmaid Jacket are lovely.How are you going with the tomaotoes?

Oh I'm exhausted just reading about all that you've been doing. We bottle tomatoes sometimes and it's always the hottest time of year but great fun. A real family project with my Italian in laws.Love the little purses for the wedding.

Reading your posts and seeing all of your creativity makes me feel like such a slug! I can't believe you have so many tomatoes! I have yet to eat a fresh tomato this year - and I think it will soon be too late!

You certainly had a full week! Glad your time with high school friends was so fulfilling. Sounds like a lot of fun!Your sewing projects are wonderful, as usual. Those neat little jackets must've been quite fiddly. I can see why you're glad to have them finished.You must be the Energizer Bunny getting all that canning done as well. Goodness, you fit a lot in! I hope you had lots of help!We've had some lovely tomatoes, but a few weeks ago late blight hit us again. At least this summer it waited until we'd enjoyed some. I might have a few to can, but not many.Don't work too hard!

You have been busy. Great post. Love to see what you've been up to. And I'm very impressed with the beautiful jackets you've made for your niece's wedding. Gosh, you are talented and inspirational (thank you).

Okay, whatever you are taking for energy I WANT SOME!!! You get so much accomplished, you put me to shame! :o)

The quilting projects are fabulous! The barn quilt is going to be amazing, I really need to do a block of the month project. The new quilt shop that I have been going to has lots of classes coming up so just as soon as Paws On Parade is over I think I will sign up. Wish Mom could go with me, I don't like to leave her alone too long.

I finally gave all of my green tomatoes to my SIL that makes fabulous relish. I called her to see if she needed any more and she did, YAY! Off to Orono they went!!!

Those little jackets are sooooooo nice! What a job though with that slippery fabric! I didn't realize that you had some real flowers put in the bags for the wedding, what a lovely idea.

I'm looking for someone to take Flat Princess next, I told Linds that she wants to go to England! I didn't have the time to take her to too many places but we did get a few shots. I must let Nerines know that the post is up. What fun!

We are off to a Pat's game this weekend but S and Miss T and I are going to head to a huge mall nearby for the day.......Yippee!

My sister is coming to walk after she gets out of work so guess I'd better get my sneakers on. The Momma Bear is still making herself known so we are always on the look out!!

Just think, only a few more months before we go to OR. So glad that we met, just think of all the fun we would be missing now!!! Love to you and E! xoxoxo

I'd love to come help with the canning. Call me crazy, but I love it. Our garden was a bust this year, so only jam to make. I love your ideas for freezing the tomatoes. I hadn't thought of that one! I used to think my mom was awful for making me stay home and help with the canning, but I now appreciate her having given me that skill.

Follow this blog with bloglovin

Follow by Email

About Me

I go by many titles - daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and friend. My husband and I have been married for 47 years and have five children. Our four sons and one daughter are all married and have blessed us with 29 grandchildren. It's a wonderful life!
For 30 years I worked as a R.N. in obstetrics which included labor and delivery, nursery and NICU.